1. Field of the Invention: The present invention relates generally to production line apparatus, and, more particularly, to an adjustable workpiece rotating device.
2. Description of the Prior Art: In production facilities, many production lines require identical operations to be performed upon large numbers of identical items. In such situations, use is quite often made of conveyors in which individual workpieces are conveyed from an entry location to a work location to a discharge location, in an automated manner thereby functioning as a production line system. Numerous work stations are typically positioned along the conveyor.
For example, when large numbers of containers must be printed with information thereupon, use of such a production line system is most advantageous. By delivering to a conveyor a plurality of unmarked containers, and by conveying the containers sequentially to a work station functioning as a printing station, whereat the plurality of unmarked containers may be printed with the desired information thereupon in an automated manner. During printing, the container must typically be rotated around 360 degrees to allow printing around the total surface of the container. Additional work stations along the conveyor are used to cure the printed information, typically by heating the containers. Rotation of the containers is also usually required at the additional work stations. Rotation of the container requires the container to be mounted on a mounting means which is capable of being rotated.
An automated production line system, however, requires a significant capital investment. To justify the cost of such a system, use of the system must be more than just occasional. For instance, the cost of such a system may not be justified for an automated production line system if the system is only intermittently used, but if the automated system may be adapted for use in the production of more than one product to thereby allow continual use of the system, the additional costs of an automated production line system may be justified.
If a printing station used to print information on containers may be adapted for the use thereof with containers of various configurations, the cost of automating such a system which may otherwise not be justified may be justifiable. Further, an existing work station of a production line system, if adapted to be capable of being used in production runs of different sized workpieces, would greatly improve the efficiency of the production line.
However, in order to maximize efficiency, the changes which must be made to the work stations to allow work to be performed on the differently sized workpieces of various configurations must be made quickly to prevent excessive downtime of the system. Existing work stations, however, either cannot be adapted for use with different sizes of workpieces, or, allow changes to be made only after extensive downtime.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages associated with the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device which allows a workpiece of any of many diameters to be rotate while maintaining the workpiece at a desired orientation.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a workpiece rotation device which may be quickly and simply adjusted to allow workpieces of various configurations to be rotated thereby.